Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a cooking apparatus. It more particularly pertains to a barbeque cooking and smoking apparatus of the type having a separate firebox and oven chamber in which an operating mechanism automatically closes off the firebox from the oven chamber by a maintenance free mechanical linkage between the oven door and a gate.
In the barbequing cooking and smoking art there have been a number of variations in barbeque grills and smokers of very small size up to very large sizes that can handle in excess of a thousand pounds of meat at one time. At the other end of the scale is a unit designed to handle a single brisket. Devices have tended to be either very elaborate and complicated which makes them expensive to build and difficult to maintain or they tend to be rudimentarily simple with virtually no control features.
This invention encompasses an embodiment of a relatively small portable smoker cooker as well as a large commercial unit and features simple and economical construction with positive and maintenance free operation. Some critical needs are addressed by this invention which are not met by the prior art devices in any real way. This invention addresses the problems of operational convenience and safety in a device of this type.
Prior art devices of this type have some problems. Once a good hot fire is started and going in the firebox the smoke is continuously directed into a smoking chamber which holds meat to be cooked and smoked simultaneously. Naturally the oven has a door which is opened to remove or add food and to check on the progress of the operation. In order to open the door the operator has to stand relatively close to the hot smoke filled device and upon opening the door is met with a continuing blast of very hot acrid smoke filled gasses and particles which take the path of least resistance to escape through the open door. This situation is not only inconvenient but potentially dangerous and unhealthy as well. It provides the opportunity for sparks to work their way from the interior of the firebox through the open door of the oven which creates a fire hazard.
With the door of the oven open, the fire in the firebox is under very loose and incomplete control because the firebox is open into the oven which is wide open to the air. The fire can easily get out of control in this situation unless the lid is again quickly closed. Excess fuel is consumed and excess heat is generated making temperature control more difficult. The ashes can easily get drawn into the food in these circumstances.
This invention solves the problems referred to above by automatically inexpensively and reliably closing the opening between the firebox and the oven through a positive mechanical linkage which does not rely upon sources of electricity or other such outside influences in order to perform the above said function.